Google-watchers may have already heard about "Project Athena," a Chrome OS-related experiment of Google's that has appeared in the Chromium source code a few times in the past. Today we got our first official look at the new interface via Francois Beaufort, a Chrome enthusiast who was hired by Google last year after leaking several high-profile Chrome features.

The new UI, pictured above, displays a cascading stack of cards, each of which appears to represent an individual browser tab. At the bottom of the screen, an app drawer full of dummy icons and a Search field will allow the user to jump quickly into other applications. The battery indicator and network status are in the upper-right corner of the screen. Putting aside the rough, obviously-a-work-in-progress aesthetic of the interface, it bears a strong resemblance to the new multitasking UI in the Android L release, which shows apps and individual browser tabs as a similar stack of cards.

The current Chrome user interface, codenamed "Aura," hews much closer to Windows 7 than to Android, and it works better with a traditional keyboard and mouse combo than with fingers. The Athena UI looks like a more touch-friendly take on Chrome OS—touchscreens are gradually beginning to show up on Chromebooks like the Pixel and one of Acer's C720 models, but as we pointed out in our Chromebook Pixel review the operating system isn't particularly touch-friendly. It's possible that Google is looking to give touchscreen Chromebooks a boost by developing an interface for them that's easier to use.

Enlarge/ The "Aura" interface circa late 2012. It hasn't changed much since then.

Andrew Cunningham

There's also that onscreen Chrome OS keyboard that Google has been testing for some time now. Rumor sites and Google enthusiasts seem to think this points to a Chrome OS tablet, though it could just as easily be an accessibility feature; all recent Windows versions have included an onscreen keyboard to aid those who can't or don't want to use the physical keyboard.

The new interface would dovetail nicely with one of the few Chrome OS announcements made at Google I/O, the ability for Chrome OS to run Android applications. We don't know much about what developers will need to do to enable this cross-platform compatibility or when we'll actually see the feature, but given the touch-first nature of Android apps it would make sense for the Chrome OS user interface to become more finger-friendly as well.

Promoted Comments

Athena seems like a poor name for this UI. After all, Athena should spring forth fully formed, but this UI.... ehhh. Not.

699 posts | registered Oct 1, 2013

Andrew Cunningham
Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites

I hope the "stacked" thing doesn't stick. I sort of kind of get it in the mobile/phone browser (basically it stacks the different windows vertically with horizontal descriptions, taking advantage of the real estate) but it makes no sense on the desktop.

Don't get me wrong, I love whooshy, animated UI. Great style is important, layout, animations, etc. I even love some types of skeuomorphism - but always the things that are USEFUL. Like shadows to indicate depth and to distinguish overlapping objects (like windows), use of style or depth to identify a specific object type, action, and state (like identifying whether something is a button or otherwise a tappable/clickable object, whether it is in a pressed or depressed state, etc). Use of color. And yeah, stuff that's pleasing to the eye.

But other than dealing with very limited screen real estate, I don't think the "stacked" thing makes any sense. It doesn't seem to improve usability. Felt the same about some of the Aero stuff.

I hope the "stacked" thing doesn't stick. I sort of kind of get it in the mobile/phone browser (basically it stacks the different windows vertically with horizontal descriptions, taking advantage of the real estate) but it makes no sense on the desktop.

Don't get me wrong, I love whooshy, animated UI. Great style is important, layout, animations, etc. I even love some types of skeuomorphism - but always the things that are USEFUL. Like shadows to indicate depth and to distinguish overlapping objects (like windows), use of style or depth to identify a specific object type, action, and state (like identifying whether something is a button or otherwise a tappable/clickable object, whether it is in a pressed or depressed state, etc). Use of color. And yeah, stuff that's pleasing to the eye.

But other than dealing with very limited screen real estate, I don't think the "stacked" thing makes any sense. It doesn't seem to improve usability. Felt the same about some of the Aero stuff.

I don't love the "stacked" thing either. Look at the Nexus 7 screenshot - you can see what, maybe 4-ish apps at once? And you can only actually see what you were doing in 2 or 2.5 of them? Seems like a step down from the multitasking switcher as it stands in 4.4.

In general, I'm not thrilled with Material Design because it lowers information density so much, but I've already ranted about that.

I admit I am not particularly up to date on all things Chrome OS but I assumed it's meant to be a lightweight, Web first, Desktop OS for the Internet age. Now google is giving it a touch interface and Android app compatibility, what distinguishes it from just having a plain Android tablet? Wouldn't the resources Google is spending on this be better utilised refining the Android tablet experience?

Fine for touch screen Chrome OS, but don't pull a Microsoft and force it on traditional format chromebooks

Or at least do a good job of explaining it. I love W8 once I figured it out, but I had to get there on my own. I'd also argue a lot of the legitimate complaints with W8's UI won't readily apply to Chrome OS since the amount of "real work" that can be done is a lot more limited. No needing PhotoShop, Indesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat open along with a web browser, email, etc. Its not Windows, OSX, or Linux.

I admit I am not particularly up to date on all things Chrome OS but I assumed it's meant to be a lightweight, Web first, Desktop OS for the Internet age. Now google is giving it a touch interface and Android app compatibility, what distinguishes it from just having a plain Android tablet? Wouldn't the resources Google is spending on this be better utilised refining the Android tablet experience?

Exactly. The Chrome tablet experience is bizarrely mouse and keyboard orientated rather than optimised for touch. In my 'umble opinion it's a nonsense to talk about Android-ifying ChromeOS when Chrome on an Android table is anything but Android-like. Exhibit the first:

I've highlighted the annoying "let's cram five buttons close together and make the close button especially fiddly". Also note how it looks nothing like other Google apps. Not shown is that when you close the last tab, rather than showing the new tab page like any sensible browser, it takes you to a blank screen with a single "new tab" button. What genius thought that up?

Chrome OS will be primarily running on screens that are wide and in landscape orientation. The smart thing to do would be to move the tabs from the top to the left side, so they stop eating up vertical space, the more limited resource. It makes no sense to me that operating systems continue to try to fit all the controls at the top, a relic from the days before all screens were wide.

Chrome OS will be primarily running on screens that are wide and in landscape orientation. The smart thing to do would be to move the tabs from the top to the left side, so they stop eating up vertical space, the more limited resource. It makes no sense to me that operating systems continue to try to fit all the controls at the top, a relic from the days before all screens were wide.

Wasn't Opera the only browser that had native vertical tabs? Even FireFox took ages to get vertical tabs, and they still all rely on third-party extensions. Chrome being even worse, as any vertical-tab extension has to run in a separate window from the browser, and aren't even actually "tabs" -- more like a crippled list-view.

Chrome OS will be primarily running on screens that are wide and in landscape orientation. The smart thing to do would be to move the tabs from the top to the left side, so they stop eating up vertical space, the more limited resource. It makes no sense to me that operating systems continue to try to fit all the controls at the top, a relic from the days before all screens were wide.

Wasn't Opera the only browser that had native vertical tabs? Even FireFox took ages to get vertical tabs, and they still all rely on third-party extensions. Chrome being even worse, as any vertical-tab extension has to run in a separate window from the browser, and aren't even actually "tabs" -- more like a crippled list-view.

The only working plugin I've found for Firefox is Tree-Style Tabs without any trees, and even then it's a mystery where in the list the new tab will open.

Fine for touch screen Chrome OS, but don't pull a Microsoft and force it on traditional format chromebooks

Or at least do a good job of explaining it. I love W8 once I figured it out, but I had to get there on my own. I'd also argue a lot of the legitimate complaints with W8's UI won't readily apply to Chrome OS since the amount of "real work" that can be done is a lot more limited. No needing PhotoShop, Indesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat open along with a web browser, email, etc. Its not Windows, OSX, or Linux.

I frequently have a web browser, calendar, email, google drive, and a google doc or a Microsoft office sheet (office online) open. Throw in a PDF or two. If you dumb it down you take away the whole purpose of a windowed system. Part of the appeal for me for chromebook was offloading 90% of what I use my slow windows laptop for (at home).

Edit - SSH, chrome remote desktop too. This is a list of programs I was using last week semi concurrently on my chromebook.

I can't help but feel that Google is diminishing Athena's good name (either as used by MIT, or the goddess).

This evokes a 'get off my lawn' response, but it does seem disrespectful or outright ignorant of past history, especially since 1) it's likewise computer-related, not a re-use of something from an entirely different field, and 2) it's not as if Google doesn't have a search tool available to find all this out!

Fine for touch screen Chrome OS, but don't pull a Microsoft and force it on traditional format chromebooks

Or at least do a good job of explaining it. I love W8 once I figured it out, but I had to get there on my own. I'd also argue a lot of the legitimate complaints with W8's UI won't readily apply to Chrome OS since the amount of "real work" that can be done is a lot more limited. No needing PhotoShop, Indesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat open along with a web browser, email, etc. Its not Windows, OSX, or Linux.

I frequently have a web browser, calendar, email, google drive, and a google doc or a Microsoft office sheet (office online) open. Throw in a PDF or two. If you dumb it down you take away the whole purpose of a windowed system. Part of the appeal for me for chromebook was offloading 90% of what I use my slow windows laptop for (at home).

Edit - SSH, chrome remote desktop too. This is a list of programs I was using last week semi concurrently on my chromebook.

Fair enough. I personally haven't met any power users that want or would want to use a Chromebook, so I hadn't heard what its fully capable of. I've had to help people with explaining *how* it could be used and why, but never considered power-user potential.

Chrome OS will be primarily running on screens that are wide and in landscape orientation. The smart thing to do would be to move the tabs from the top to the left side, so they stop eating up vertical space, the more limited resource. It makes no sense to me that operating systems continue to try to fit all the controls at the top, a relic from the days before all screens were wide.

Wasn't Opera the only browser that had native vertical tabs? Even FireFox took ages to get vertical tabs, and they still all rely on third-party extensions. Chrome being even worse, as any vertical-tab extension has to run in a separate window from the browser, and aren't even actually "tabs" -- more like a crippled list-view.

I can't help but feel that Google is diminishing Athena's good name (either as used by MIT, or the goddess).

This evokes a 'get off my lawn' response, but it does seem disrespectful or outright ignorant of past history, especially since 1) it's likewise computer-related, not a re-use of something from an entirely different field, and 2) it's not as if Google doesn't have a search tool available to find all this out!

Google has already been somewhat disrespectful towards the Mozilla project when selecting the name "Chrome" for its browser. The word "Chrome" used to be associated with different skins for the Mozilla browser which is the one that preceded Firefox.

I can't help but feel that Google is diminishing Athena's good name (either as used by MIT, or the goddess).

This evokes a 'get off my lawn' response, but it does seem disrespectful or outright ignorant of past history, especially since 1) it's likewise computer-related, not a re-use of something from an entirely different field, and 2) it's not as if Google doesn't have a search tool available to find all this out!

Google has already been somewhat disrespectful towards the Mozilla project when selecting the name "Chrome" for its browser. The word "Chrome" used to be associated with different skins for the Mozilla browser which is the one that preceded Firefox.

Chrome is a generic term for the windows and borders of a gui. Maybe they chose the name to be ironic, as Chrome was the first browser to ditch a lot of the borders and buttons.

Google has already been somewhat disrespectful towards the Mozilla project when selecting the name "Chrome" for its browser. The word "Chrome" used to be associated with different skins for the Mozilla browser which is the one that preceded Firefox.

By that logic Microsoft disrespected the entirety of then-extant GUIs by naming their operating system 'Windows'. As pointed out above, the term 'chrome' already had a meaning before Mozilla came along.

I honestly would take Os 7.6 over windows 8 and chrome os. I bet it would be rocket fast on an arm processor if it was written native. If it got a virus I could boot a cloned image of the base OS like a Linux live cd in ram to fix the problem.